Ty Roberts Leaves Universal Music as Chief Technology Officer

Signage of Universal Music Publishing Group hangs outside the company headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif.

He joined the staff only a little more than a year ago.

Silicon Valley technologist Ty Roberts has left Universal Music Group a little more than a year after joining the music company as its chief technology officer, Billboard has learned.

Roberts could not be reached for comment and the label declined comment.

Roberts is a well known figure in entertainment technology circles. He was one of the inventors of the enhanced CD -- a predecessor to contemporary interactive digital formats. He’s credited with producing the industry’s first multimedia experience on CD for artists including David Bowie, Todd Rundgren and Brian Eno.

Before joining Universal, he served as Gracenote’s chief strategy officer and general manager of music.

Gracenote was formed in the late 1990s when Robert’s company, ION, merged with CDDB (Compact Disc Data Base), one of the earliest internet databases containing information about audio recordings. The company, which was acquired in late 2016 by Nielsen, has emerged as a leading provider of data about movies, television listings and songs.